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Shifts cut and being given to younger workers

Imogen worked in a suburban pet store. After working there for about six months, she noticed that her boss began cutting Imogen's shifts and taking on younger workers to work these shifts. Then, she had an operation on her foot and took two weeks off work to recover. Upon Imogen's return to work, the boss accused her of being unreliable for taking this time off. She felt that she could not longer tolerate this treatment at work, and resigned.

Imogen complained of age discrimination to the Commission. The manager replied to the allegations saying he wasn't aware that the shifts were taken over by younger people; the reason he reduced her hours was that he judged Imogen to be less reliable.

Outcome:

Two weeks after Imogen made her complaint, a conciliation conference date was set.
At this meeting, the store manager agreed to provide Imogen with a letter of apology, to reassess his management style to prevent any reoccurrence of the problem, and to pay her $600 compensation for hurt to feelings and general damages.